all right raise your hand if you’ve ever
had a bad day ever in your life okay
looks like all of us now raise your hand
if you’ve ever had a bad day that
started with something small could be
your alarm didn’t go off someone cut you
off going to work or school or you
posted an Instagram photo and didn’t get
the likes you deserve anybody too often
okay
last question how many of you then
believe that a similarly small moment
could improve your day your week maybe
even your life yeah seems like kind of
more of a stretch doesn’t it but it
would stand to reason that if a small
thing could ruin your day then a small
thing should be able to improve it but
this is something that I didn’t really
think about or believed in until this
particular bad day it had been a long
day the kind of day of my motivation
procrastination couldn’t decide which of
the two look better on me so they
dressed me in mediocrity and sent me on
my way I’m away to a day where none of
my childhood dreams came true a day even
dr. Seuss probably would have rhymed
with suckish we’re the most exciting
thing that happened to me was that my
gas light came on top it all off I’m
stuck in lying in my least favorite
place Walgreens
I hate Walgreens come you’re all excited
about the membership relaxor price of
product so high the membership only
served to bring them back down a reality
it is killing me they call 35 cents off
of greediness a bargain and this hag in
front of me is pulling out a checkbook
lady I am sure the 1930s were a swell
time but some things are not better the
old-fashioned way in her hands shake as
she pays for her gallon of water six
bananas loaf of bread jar peanut butter
optical bars four bottles of Gatorade
two Hershey’s chocolate bars because why
the hell not three pop the spearmint gum
and this chocolate cake some hostess and
I only know this because the time it
took for her to find that checkbook in
that suitcase on her arm they put a man
on Neptune enou brilliant she forgot the
milk and as we all wait for the store
associate runner grab her calcium liquid
I begin to associate this old woman with
purgatory this must be the stuck behind
the arthritic old lady at the grocery
store level and I am sure for some this
level isn’t that bad but it’s been a
long day
and this woman smells like old people
I’m beginning to wonder how she escaped
from the nursing home but right before I
can ask this fossil what the Great
Depression was like mercifully the
associate returns with her 1% the cash
register dings and opens it’s over at
least I didn’t kill not woman a day she
collects her belongings and at a speed
evolution would respect move so slowly
to the door that I could scan my ID and
pay for a grandma card and reseed go to
leave and she is just now reaching the
front doors where she’s conveniently
blocking the only exit old lady you
picked the wrong day to examine my
morality i surged to give her sharp push
into the portrait frame of my day but I
miss because she’s tricked me to
surprisingly Swift that she makes her
sharp right
and as I stumble through the door I
struggle to regain composure as my mind
works to clarify the scenario I am
seeing I pause as my days largest
mountain kneels down and the burden she
carries is unloaded on the homeless man
laying down at the front of store with a
sign that reads you are loved a gallon
of water 6 banana is a loaf of bread jar
peanut butter apple canola bars 4
bottles of Gatorade 2 Hershey’s
chocolate bars because why the hell not
three packs of spearmint gum and those
chocolate cakes from hostess and of
course the 1% milk almost forgotten the
she empties every item in her bag for
the first time today my mind is quiet so
I bear witness to a development this is
what love looks like with a smile in a
wave she says goodbye to the man who
probably never know the name of the
whisper of humanity on two legs walking
away but she turns back to procure her
original purpose a stopper and ask her
who she is and with a smile like a
vaccine curing my melancholy disease she
says to me I’m Ingrid Ingrid thank you
for making this day beautiful thank you
[Applause]
so at kama tree we blend comedy and
poetry to tell stories and to educate
and this particular story is about a
moment in my life in which I learned
something new about someone that forced
me to completely change the way that I
saw them and I really like telling this
story mainly because it makes me look
bad and we never like to do that
I mean understandably we typically only
tell stories in which we are either the
hero or the victim I mean how many of
you tell stories that end in and I
learned a very valuable lesson that day
we don’t really like to talk about our
chips our cracks
our mistakes but these things just like
our joys and successes make us human and
they connect us to other humans kind of
like you saw in that poem life is full
of these serendipitous moments if you’re
willing to be open to them an openness
comes from a willingness to learn about
other people other cultures other walks
of life both their joys and their pains
I mean I thought I had this older woman
figured out clearly Satan Center here to
test me but after learning just a little
bit about her story my perception
changed and it started to eliminate
other small moments like this in my life
and help me see them more clearly I mean
how many of you have people in your
lives that you feel like you’ve got
figured out maybe without ever saying a
word to them a slam poetry is this
really powerful art form because allows
audiences the chance to not only see and
hear these stories but to really
experience them to feel them and so to
further highlight how small moments can
really impact your life if you’re
willing to be open to them I want to
invite up the co-founder of common tree
to tell some of his story
please help me welcome up eggie Mahalo
in the two weeks he went sober we drank
coffee we clean the house without the
unemployment office together going up
the local cops knew our names finally
could often our family it was our
religion every month where the sacrifice
our father take a pot to his head and
lay the drunk man out the sirens the
tears the AAA classes the court hearings
evictions never changed much there are
times I could beat him sober for days
but never long enough to get to know him
beyond the alcoholic who only came round
a basketball game screaming that’s my
boy my father laid passed out in the
neighbor’s yard the lawn ornament you
look at itself every week my father the
drunk
we felt toe to toe and knuckle to
knuckle and after 20 years of it I
decided to work things out I tried to
understand why my father had so much
anger release and the twist of a cat for
three years I did swing on a man until
this morning a loud thump off the wall a
jaw hung open my mother they got across
the floor the pain reeking in her face –
I remember a time he brought her to his
knees his hands laughter on her arm like
a jaws of a pitbull to let any dog owner
I talked him into throats no air no
power I’d be back to the room as my
father stands under the dim kitchen
light with liquor splashing behind his
yellow eyes
how could you push it like that your own
wife my mother I slashed again today he
punches her she’s the floor president I
thought around Miami like birds do on a
nest also mystery praying she wake up
I’d be back to the moment back into his
yellow eyes and jab
cook stab to the midsection his air bag
is empty he swings back the bell is rung
we’re at it again mother cheers me on
his bottom lip
open blood-stained drill he’s gonna
catch with his tongue I’ll kill you
I know the crowd going wild as I found
his flimsy swings and knee to the
sternum his body fell slipping but
there’s no referee to stop me I’m in
love with the sound of knuckles hitting
flesh the aching beauty of a cue ball
cracking the rack and the break you like
that I like that addicted to a gentleman
holding 25 years of messed-up childhood
in my fist
his terabyte laser had no bones left I
kicked it I stopped it I put the head to
the refrigerator more concern about that
door and the head that dented it my
mother is crying again I dragged what
has left my father into the empty
hallway at the sink I loosened my
knuckles rinse our African blood from my
hands I washed my dignity and anger
swirl towards the mouth of the basin I’m
late for my train outside the building
I’m greeted by a loving custodian lady
[Applause]
during that time period of violence
occurring frequently in the household my
days were dark my days are heavy and I
remain distant from most people
discouraged due to the the pain due to
the embarrassment the bruises and
everything else that comes with
emotional trauma
up until then I disclose very little or
nothing about my life about Iggy my
story will store it in a closet that day
I decided if he was not gonna change I
was gonna change I vowed never to fight
father again and live a life that was
healthier for me which started with
sharing my shame my story fell upon the
ears of my high school basketball coach
mr. kovitch toe I moved in found a
family and became family the beginnings
of building a series of events of more
chances I share that with you to show
just how influential openness can be in
this moment I feel closer to you guys
and may be mutual you may feel closer to
me openness or sharing your story
breeds higher chances of others
understanding or empathizing with you
which could lead to influx of
serendipitous moments now I would hope
you don’t have to experience complete
loneliness or I would hope you don’t
have to discover the many different hues
of emotional bruises before you willing
to be open being vulnerable
authentic will take courage but I
encourage you to do so sharing my story
was one of the hardest things I’ve ever
done but since then I feel more hopeful
for my future that hope for this comes
from knowing that they will be there
with me I became comfortable and
learning that I was not the only one I
was just like many who don’t share
emotions it was kind of funny isn’t
sharing my story I began to connect more
others were gravitating towards me and
was interesting is in doing so it gave
them trust to share their stories with
me the act of sitting fully in your
emotions and practicing transparency
allows other people to feel seen they
feel like they matter
like they exist so let’s practice today
because maybe some of you are thinking
connecting with other people is
challenging or perhaps outside your
comfort zone well I’m going to invite
Andrey back to the stage and we’re going
to demonstrate just where openness can
begin and we’re gonna treat this room
here as our honesty laboratory so this
is going to be an interactive exercise
simply raise your hand if the following
questions apply to you and we’ll sort of
see if openness and honesty can help
develop connections raise your hand if
you’ve ever said goodbye to somebody and
then you start walking the same
direction
so that you start walking a little
slower or a little faster so you’re not
walking next to them raise your hand if
you’ve ever been alone in a room so you
let out a toot
and then someone immediately walks into
the room mmm and you just pretend like
it smelled that way the whole time yeah
next time
it’s a cabbage but weird broccoli it’s
just strange in here ideally in broccoli
I don’t know yeah raise your hand if
you’ve ever wanted to try out for a
musical or a sports team or a club
meeting but you didn’t because you’re
worried about what other people thought
hmm few security raise your hand if you
think about the future and it makes you
kind of anxious raise your hand if you
feel guilty about cancelling plans and a
friend just so you can sit at home and
Netflix is real
and finally raise your hand if you’ve
secretly been looking around the room to
see who was raising their hands and who
didn’t but clearly feels the same way
yeah thank you for being open and honest
with us we hope that you now discover
that you have more in common with those
around you we hope that you practice
being open so you can foster more
serendipitous moments that’s also how
you practice empathy and empathy is what
helps us develop the genuine connections
we need with the people around us to
kind of help us get through life like
you heard in my poem earlier it was a
moment of kindness that not only changed
the way that I saw this person but it
also uplifted my day and that was just
this person being authentically who they
were and me being open to receiving that
a narrative my story how dark it was how
low my emotions were for me to be open
but practicing being open allowed me to
create this performance group that now
teaches how to be emotionally unreserved
or teaches empathy which led us to our
own certain davidís moment with you here
today practice being open practice being
authentic so you can foster more
serendipitous moments in your life thank
you [Applause]
had a bad day ever in your life okay
looks like all of us now raise your hand
if you’ve ever had a bad day that
started with something small could be
your alarm didn’t go off someone cut you
off going to work or school or you
posted an Instagram photo and didn’t get
the likes you deserve anybody too often
okay
last question how many of you then
believe that a similarly small moment
could improve your day your week maybe
even your life yeah seems like kind of
more of a stretch doesn’t it but it
would stand to reason that if a small
thing could ruin your day then a small
thing should be able to improve it but
this is something that I didn’t really
think about or believed in until this
particular bad day it had been a long
day the kind of day of my motivation
procrastination couldn’t decide which of
the two look better on me so they
dressed me in mediocrity and sent me on
my way I’m away to a day where none of
my childhood dreams came true a day even
dr. Seuss probably would have rhymed
with suckish we’re the most exciting
thing that happened to me was that my
gas light came on top it all off I’m
stuck in lying in my least favorite
place Walgreens
I hate Walgreens come you’re all excited
about the membership relaxor price of
product so high the membership only
served to bring them back down a reality
it is killing me they call 35 cents off
of greediness a bargain and this hag in
front of me is pulling out a checkbook
lady I am sure the 1930s were a swell
time but some things are not better the
old-fashioned way in her hands shake as
she pays for her gallon of water six
bananas loaf of bread jar peanut butter
optical bars four bottles of Gatorade
two Hershey’s chocolate bars because why
the hell not three pop the spearmint gum
and this chocolate cake some hostess and
I only know this because the time it
took for her to find that checkbook in
that suitcase on her arm they put a man
on Neptune enou brilliant she forgot the
milk and as we all wait for the store
associate runner grab her calcium liquid
I begin to associate this old woman with
purgatory this must be the stuck behind
the arthritic old lady at the grocery
store level and I am sure for some this
level isn’t that bad but it’s been a
long day
and this woman smells like old people
I’m beginning to wonder how she escaped
from the nursing home but right before I
can ask this fossil what the Great
Depression was like mercifully the
associate returns with her 1% the cash
register dings and opens it’s over at
least I didn’t kill not woman a day she
collects her belongings and at a speed
evolution would respect move so slowly
to the door that I could scan my ID and
pay for a grandma card and reseed go to
leave and she is just now reaching the
front doors where she’s conveniently
blocking the only exit old lady you
picked the wrong day to examine my
morality i surged to give her sharp push
into the portrait frame of my day but I
miss because she’s tricked me to
surprisingly Swift that she makes her
sharp right
and as I stumble through the door I
struggle to regain composure as my mind
works to clarify the scenario I am
seeing I pause as my days largest
mountain kneels down and the burden she
carries is unloaded on the homeless man
laying down at the front of store with a
sign that reads you are loved a gallon
of water 6 banana is a loaf of bread jar
peanut butter apple canola bars 4
bottles of Gatorade 2 Hershey’s
chocolate bars because why the hell not
three packs of spearmint gum and those
chocolate cakes from hostess and of
course the 1% milk almost forgotten the
she empties every item in her bag for
the first time today my mind is quiet so
I bear witness to a development this is
what love looks like with a smile in a
wave she says goodbye to the man who
probably never know the name of the
whisper of humanity on two legs walking
away but she turns back to procure her
original purpose a stopper and ask her
who she is and with a smile like a
vaccine curing my melancholy disease she
says to me I’m Ingrid Ingrid thank you
for making this day beautiful thank you
[Applause]
so at kama tree we blend comedy and
poetry to tell stories and to educate
and this particular story is about a
moment in my life in which I learned
something new about someone that forced
me to completely change the way that I
saw them and I really like telling this
story mainly because it makes me look
bad and we never like to do that
I mean understandably we typically only
tell stories in which we are either the
hero or the victim I mean how many of
you tell stories that end in and I
learned a very valuable lesson that day
we don’t really like to talk about our
chips our cracks
our mistakes but these things just like
our joys and successes make us human and
they connect us to other humans kind of
like you saw in that poem life is full
of these serendipitous moments if you’re
willing to be open to them an openness
comes from a willingness to learn about
other people other cultures other walks
of life both their joys and their pains
I mean I thought I had this older woman
figured out clearly Satan Center here to
test me but after learning just a little
bit about her story my perception
changed and it started to eliminate
other small moments like this in my life
and help me see them more clearly I mean
how many of you have people in your
lives that you feel like you’ve got
figured out maybe without ever saying a
word to them a slam poetry is this
really powerful art form because allows
audiences the chance to not only see and
hear these stories but to really
experience them to feel them and so to
further highlight how small moments can
really impact your life if you’re
willing to be open to them I want to
invite up the co-founder of common tree
to tell some of his story
please help me welcome up eggie Mahalo
in the two weeks he went sober we drank
coffee we clean the house without the
unemployment office together going up
the local cops knew our names finally
could often our family it was our
religion every month where the sacrifice
our father take a pot to his head and
lay the drunk man out the sirens the
tears the AAA classes the court hearings
evictions never changed much there are
times I could beat him sober for days
but never long enough to get to know him
beyond the alcoholic who only came round
a basketball game screaming that’s my
boy my father laid passed out in the
neighbor’s yard the lawn ornament you
look at itself every week my father the
drunk
we felt toe to toe and knuckle to
knuckle and after 20 years of it I
decided to work things out I tried to
understand why my father had so much
anger release and the twist of a cat for
three years I did swing on a man until
this morning a loud thump off the wall a
jaw hung open my mother they got across
the floor the pain reeking in her face –
I remember a time he brought her to his
knees his hands laughter on her arm like
a jaws of a pitbull to let any dog owner
I talked him into throats no air no
power I’d be back to the room as my
father stands under the dim kitchen
light with liquor splashing behind his
yellow eyes
how could you push it like that your own
wife my mother I slashed again today he
punches her she’s the floor president I
thought around Miami like birds do on a
nest also mystery praying she wake up
I’d be back to the moment back into his
yellow eyes and jab
cook stab to the midsection his air bag
is empty he swings back the bell is rung
we’re at it again mother cheers me on
his bottom lip
open blood-stained drill he’s gonna
catch with his tongue I’ll kill you
I know the crowd going wild as I found
his flimsy swings and knee to the
sternum his body fell slipping but
there’s no referee to stop me I’m in
love with the sound of knuckles hitting
flesh the aching beauty of a cue ball
cracking the rack and the break you like
that I like that addicted to a gentleman
holding 25 years of messed-up childhood
in my fist
his terabyte laser had no bones left I
kicked it I stopped it I put the head to
the refrigerator more concern about that
door and the head that dented it my
mother is crying again I dragged what
has left my father into the empty
hallway at the sink I loosened my
knuckles rinse our African blood from my
hands I washed my dignity and anger
swirl towards the mouth of the basin I’m
late for my train outside the building
I’m greeted by a loving custodian lady
[Applause]
during that time period of violence
occurring frequently in the household my
days were dark my days are heavy and I
remain distant from most people
discouraged due to the the pain due to
the embarrassment the bruises and
everything else that comes with
emotional trauma
up until then I disclose very little or
nothing about my life about Iggy my
story will store it in a closet that day
I decided if he was not gonna change I
was gonna change I vowed never to fight
father again and live a life that was
healthier for me which started with
sharing my shame my story fell upon the
ears of my high school basketball coach
mr. kovitch toe I moved in found a
family and became family the beginnings
of building a series of events of more
chances I share that with you to show
just how influential openness can be in
this moment I feel closer to you guys
and may be mutual you may feel closer to
me openness or sharing your story
breeds higher chances of others
understanding or empathizing with you
which could lead to influx of
serendipitous moments now I would hope
you don’t have to experience complete
loneliness or I would hope you don’t
have to discover the many different hues
of emotional bruises before you willing
to be open being vulnerable
authentic will take courage but I
encourage you to do so sharing my story
was one of the hardest things I’ve ever
done but since then I feel more hopeful
for my future that hope for this comes
from knowing that they will be there
with me I became comfortable and
learning that I was not the only one I
was just like many who don’t share
emotions it was kind of funny isn’t
sharing my story I began to connect more
others were gravitating towards me and
was interesting is in doing so it gave
them trust to share their stories with
me the act of sitting fully in your
emotions and practicing transparency
allows other people to feel seen they
feel like they matter
like they exist so let’s practice today
because maybe some of you are thinking
connecting with other people is
challenging or perhaps outside your
comfort zone well I’m going to invite
Andrey back to the stage and we’re going
to demonstrate just where openness can
begin and we’re gonna treat this room
here as our honesty laboratory so this
is going to be an interactive exercise
simply raise your hand if the following
questions apply to you and we’ll sort of
see if openness and honesty can help
develop connections raise your hand if
you’ve ever said goodbye to somebody and
then you start walking the same
direction
so that you start walking a little
slower or a little faster so you’re not
walking next to them raise your hand if
you’ve ever been alone in a room so you
let out a toot
and then someone immediately walks into
the room mmm and you just pretend like
it smelled that way the whole time yeah
next time
it’s a cabbage but weird broccoli it’s
just strange in here ideally in broccoli
I don’t know yeah raise your hand if
you’ve ever wanted to try out for a
musical or a sports team or a club
meeting but you didn’t because you’re
worried about what other people thought
hmm few security raise your hand if you
think about the future and it makes you
kind of anxious raise your hand if you
feel guilty about cancelling plans and a
friend just so you can sit at home and
Netflix is real
and finally raise your hand if you’ve
secretly been looking around the room to
see who was raising their hands and who
didn’t but clearly feels the same way
yeah thank you for being open and honest
with us we hope that you now discover
that you have more in common with those
around you we hope that you practice
being open so you can foster more
serendipitous moments that’s also how
you practice empathy and empathy is what
helps us develop the genuine connections
we need with the people around us to
kind of help us get through life like
you heard in my poem earlier it was a
moment of kindness that not only changed
the way that I saw this person but it
also uplifted my day and that was just
this person being authentically who they
were and me being open to receiving that
a narrative my story how dark it was how
low my emotions were for me to be open
but practicing being open allowed me to
create this performance group that now
teaches how to be emotionally unreserved
or teaches empathy which led us to our
own certain davidís moment with you here
today practice being open practice being
authentic so you can foster more
serendipitous moments in your life thank
you [Applause]
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